Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, April 7, 1922, Page 1

The Pioneer is the only daily within_ 100 miles of Bemidji and has the iargest circulation’ in b Northern Minnesota. — | ~ ‘MIDJI DAILY PIONEER I\ Minnesota—Genérally fair tod night and Saturday; except un- settled in northeast portion to- night; colder in southeast tonight. VOLUME XIX. NO, 299 BEMIDJI, MINN., FRIDAY EVENING, APRIL 7, 1922 55¢c PER MONTH “LOCAL MAN KILLED IN ATTEMPT T0 CUT ELECTRIC LIGHT WIRE WITH KNIFE EVIDENCEDIN DITCH HEARING Final Hearing Being Held Here Today on Construction of Judicial Ditch No. 37 COUNTY BOARD OPPOSES’ PLAN AT PRESENT TIME Board Goes on Record Against Construction on Account of Present Finances The keé¢nest interest on the part of a large number of citizens of this, city, Blackduck and other towns is being shown by their presence at the ditch hearing now on at the cour’ house. The ditch in question is number 37, which is estimated to cost several hundred thousand dol- lars. A Attorney A. A. Andrews is repre- senting the ditch petitioners, while E. E. McDonald and William " Erown of Thief River Falls are appearing for the objectors and county attorney Graham M. Torrance is representing Beltrami county on special request by the county commissioners. Tle board at its meeting Thursday passed a resolution outlining the fi- nancial sitnation’ and making the-re- quest that the county be represented at the hearing. The resolution in part follows: N Commissioner Ellis offered the following resolution and moved its adoption: “Whereas, the final hearing for the establishment of Judicial Ditch \No. 37 is set £/ hearing before the Laatriet Qexrt -of -this County- on -the Tth day of April, 1922, and “Whereas, the bonded indebtedness of Beltrami county for drainage pur-, poses, now outstanding and unpaid, amounts to the sum of $2,654,000 and Whereas, the total estimated cost of said Judicial Ditch No. 37 amounts to the sum of $312,788.38. “Now therefore, be it resolved by the County Board of Beltrami coun- ty that said court be urged to not’ establish said Judicial Ditch No. 37 as now planned, and for the reason that on account of the present bond- ed indebtedness -of this county, the County of Beltrami will be unable to finance such project, and will be unable to raise the money, by the sale of bonds, to carry out such project “Resolved, further ihat the Coun- ty Attorney of this County and the members of the board appear at such hearing and ’urge 4hat said djtch, as now planned, be not now establish- ed, and that a copy of this resolution be transmitted by the County Audit- or of this County to said Court upon such hearing.” The resolution was seconded by Commissioner Hays, and being put to a vote was adopted. The following members voted Aye: Edward Paul- son, H. B. Imsdahl, J. F. Hays, and S. W. Ellis, Absent: Wm. Lennon. The hearing began before Judge C. W. Stanton this morning and en- gineer Geo. W. Walker occupied the stand during this morning’s session and for the most part of the after- noon. The atterneys for the objectors desire to secure all the facts in order to establish a foundation for making an appeal to the higher courts it is said, should the ditch be estab- lished by the district court. A hearing on ditch number 45 will also be held after-the present hear- ing on ditch number 37 is completed. This project is not so large, but is rather costly for its length in as much as the ditch would mecessarily be deeper and larger if constructed. TYPHOID FEVER DEATH RATE SHOWS DECREASE Washington, April 7—The De- partment of Commerce through the Bureau -of the Census, announces lower mortality rates from typhoid fever in recent years. The amount of typhoid fever in a community is recognized as one of its best indexes of is healthfulness. So also the mortality rate from this cause is a very important sanitary index., = The steadily inereasing mortality rate from typhoid fever is therefore most gratifying, a decrease in_ the registration states of 1916 from 13.3 per 100,000 population in 1916 to 7 in 1920. In 1920 of the states in the registration area Massachu- setts and Wisconsin share the honor of having the lowest rate(2.5) while the highest (22.4) appears for south Carolina. Of the eleven states showing rates by color, the lowest rate for the white population was 4.6 both for New York State, while the highest rate for the white popu- Jation was 19.1 for Kentucky and that for the colored was 30.2 for the same state. BIG BRIBE WAS OFFERED | Alleged Proposal Was That Farm Bureau Seek Control of Muscle Shoals Plant (By United Press) Washington, April 7.—A sensa- tional charge that the Alabama Farm Bureau Federation has been offered a virtual proposal of $2,500,000 if it would seek to obtain from the gov- ernment the leasing of the Muscle Shoals nitrate plant No. 2, and thus defeat the efforts of Henry Ford to lease the entire project, was made in documents madé public by the American Farm Bureau Federation. . In a letter, Roy C. Bishop, secre- tary and manager of the Alabama Farm Bureau Federation, alleged he had been approached by General R. E. Steiner, who urged that the Ala- bama Federation seek to lease the ni- trate plant-No. 2 to assure a supply of fertilizer for the farmers and promised that the company would purchase the rest of the project and would make a “contribution of $2,- 500,000 to the federation.” Bishop charged that Steiner was a representative of the Alabama Power company. Steiner denied any connection with the Alabama Power company, Bishop said. Steiner also promised to guaran- tee 100,000 horse-power to operate the nitrate plant, Bishop alleged. The whole proposal was promptly rejected, a statement of Gray Silver, Washington representative of the American Farm Bureau Federation, said., E ONE MAN KILLED AND SEVERAL HURT IN CYCLONE (By United Press) Woodward, Ia., April 7—One man was killed -and ‘several - persons in- jurde and property damage amount- ing to $250,000 was done by a cy- clone- near -here. Farm homes and other buildings were wrecked over an area of several miles. TAFT’S ‘HOBNOBBING' IS .. CRITICIZED-BY NORRIS (By United Press) ‘Washington, April 7—Chief Justice Taft was sharply criticised in the sen- ate today by senator Norris of Ne- braska for “hobnobbing” at too many social functions with the idle rich. . “No man,” Norris said, “can stick hig legs under ine table of the-idle rich and be fit to sit in judgment the next day on those who toil.” So- cial activities are seriously affecting the public, he asserted. Park Rapids, April 7—Thursday morning at 6 o’clock the fire siren sounded and the whole back part of Haight’s Furniture store was found to be on fire. A little delay in get- ting the pressure on the water made it look as though the whole building would be consumed but soon the fire company got better service and it was brought under control without spreading to any other structures. As it was, the whole back part of the building was ruined with a loss of omewhere around $3,000 to the build- ing besides half of that amount on stock and housebold goods. Insur- ance covers the:loss. FIVE KILLED IN NIGHT FIGHTING IN IRELAND Demonstrations by DeValera Followers in Dublin Call Troops Into Action (By United Press) London, April 7—Five constabu- laries of the Royal Irish constabul- aries were shot to. death in Ireland last night, according to the Dublin correspondent of the Morning Post. Two were killed in County Terry and three in County Claire, according to correspondents. The Royal Irish con- stabulary forces were recently with- drawn from Ireland after their duties were taken over by the Free State police. * Dublin, April 7—Rebellious demon- strations by DeValera followers in Dublin today caused the Free State government to rush troops to oc- cupy the telephone exchange, which insurgents had planned to seize. Two hundred rebels attacked the customs house and destroyed immense quantities of liquer and wines. A force of loyal troops were sent tol. occupy the telephone exchange which it was understood, was the first ob- ject of the rebel attack. TWO EXPRESS AIRPLANES COLLIDE IN MID-AIR TODAY (By United Press) Paris, April 7.—Two express air- planes on the London-to-Paris air service collided in mid-air over Til- loy today and fell flaming to the earth, carrying two pilots, mechanics and three passengers to their deaths. Planes burst into flames high, above the ground and the passengers died without being -able to extricate themselves from the burning ma- chines. The accident occurred 70 miles north of Paris. TERM OF COURT T0 RECONVENE NEXT TUESDAY Several Cases on Calendar for ‘Adjourned Session; Judge Wright to Preside JURORS TO ASSEMBLE HERE NEXT WEDNESDAY »Hearing Arguments on Change of Venue in Miller Case Listed for Tuesday District court will be reconvened here next Tuesday, April 11, to com- plete the February term of court which was adjourned March 16 after a session of considerable length, in which a large number of liquor cases were heard and sentences passed. 1t is expected that the hearing of arguments for and against a change of venue for Robert Miller will be held Tuesday. Miller was convicted a year ago last February on a charge of murder in connection with the death of a man named Fenton, near Baudette, and was_sentenced to life imprisonment at Stillwater. Motion for a new trial was denied by Judge C. W]| Stanton, and later an appeal was made in Supreme court, asking for a reversal of, the decision® of Judge Stanton. This was granted and a new trial was ordered. At the pre- sent time, Miller is confined to the Beltrami county jail, seeking to have his new trial in another county. Judge B. F. Wright of Park Rapids, who presided at the first part of this present term of court, will occu- py the bench again. His services here are apparently meeting with ap- proval and his decisions are consider- ‘ed fair.. For this adjourned term, a new venire of jurors has been called and it is expected that several in- teresting cases will be heard. _Among these cases is that of the State ‘of Mifnesota vs. Henry L. Melius, on a charge of improper con- duct toward a 15-year old girl, on which case the jury disagraed before the adjournment was taken. This case will be retried at this session. The case of the State of Minnesota vs. Tom C. Fenson, charged with conducting a gambling place, and that of the State of Minnesota vs. Peter Blahyj, charged with violation of the liquor law at Kelliher, will be heard. On the new panel of jurors are a number of women, following the pre- cedent set at the first part of the term when women of Beltrami county did ‘their first jury duty here. The adjourned term is virtually called for Aprfl 11 but the Jurors are not re- quired to appear until April 12, when the first trial case will be brought up. Major C. K. Newcome of Winnipeg addressed the assembly at the State Teachers college at 11 o’clock this forenoon on the same subject which he used for his address before the Kiwanis club this noon, as the special speaker for Canadian Day. He is a very able speaker and had a message worth-while. |, * ASSESSORS OF SOUTHERN END MEET HERE TUESDAY To Receive Instruction Relative to Their Work; North End Assessors Meet April 26 Township assessors of the south- ern portion of Beltrami county are to meet in Bemidji next Tuesday, April 11, for the purpose of receiving in- struction relative to proper methods of assessing the property in each township. They will also receive their supplies at this session. In- struction will be given by represen- tatives of the state tax commission. A similar meeting will be held at Baudette April 26, at which time the assessors 'of the townships in the north end of the county will receive instruction. Representatives of the state tax commission are also to be present at this meeting. Assessors of the western townships of the county met at Thief River Falls April 4, where they received instruc- tion and supplies. The assessors who attend the meet- ing in their section of the county are b allowed five cents a mile for the dis- tance actually traveled in attending the meeting and $4 a day for the time necessarily consumed in attend- ing. All assessors are urged to make it a point to be present at the meeting in their section of the county in| order that the assessing this year may be done along the proper lines. These meetings have been held vearly and much interest has heen shown, with the result that the job of making the assessment has been carried out more and more to the satisfaction of all concerned. SETTLEMENT OF STRIKE BY PUBLIC PREDICTED (By United Press) Washington, April 7.—(By Her- bert Walker)—Public ‘ opinion will force settlement of the coal strike after it gets the facts about the coal industry, Representative Bland of Indiana;” Republican;who started the investigation through his proposed resolution, providing -a federal com- mission of investigation, declared to- day to the United Press. Indianapolis, April 7.—A splendid morale exists among the 600,000 striking coal miners today—the end of the first week of their suspension. The ranks are being augmented daily by thousands of non-union men, it was claimed. CARELESSNESS CAUSES MOST OF FOREST FIRES (By United Press) Duluth, April 7—Sixty-three per cent of the forest fires in Superior National forest region last year were caused by careless individuals. Only sixteen fires in the forest were large cnough to call out forest- ry crews and of these fires ten were caused through carelessness, accord- ing to the forestry department six fires were started by lightning, three by settlers clearing land, six by campers awf onc by a lumber com- pany clearing land. Conditions last year were much better than heretofore, however, as formerly about 95 per cent of the fires were caused by carelessness. (OUNTY BOARD MAKING PLANS FORROADWORK Special Meeting to Be Held Next Tuesday to Consider Several Road Bids MORE TO BE CONSIDERED AT REGULAR MEET MAY 3 Large Number of Small Jobs Advertised; Taylor Town- ship Has Big Program To consider bids on a number of road jobs in Beltrami county, the d of county commissioners, which was in session here until Thursday, will meet again in special session Tuesday, April 11. The com- ioners completed their regular ession Thursday ‘but remained in emidji for the hearing on the con- struction of Ditch No. 87, which is ibeing held at the court house before |Judge C. W. Stanton today. Roads that have been advertised |s | are a road between Funkl and Shooks, a stretch of two miles: from Funkley west to the range line, a distance of about five miles; a road on the south side of Blackduck lake, a distance of about two and one-half miles; a road between Hagali and Blackduck townships for a’ distance of five miles; a connecting road with state road No. 3 in Grant Valley, a distance of one fourth of a mile; a road in Jones township south of Sol- way, a distance of one and one-fourth miles; a road in Buzzle township for a distance of one mile; a ore-mile road in Roosevelt township; and a nine-mile stretch in Minnie and Ste- enerson townships. ‘Several more road bids are to be considered at the regnlar meeting of the board on May 3. these is a road in section 19 of Du- rand township, a distance of one-mile another road in the vicinity of Neeley siding, running to the school, a dis- tance of two miles. Bids have also been asked for on a road to be con- structed along the railroad north of Neeley siding, a distance of four miles, and south of Puposky, a dis- tance of two miles. A clearing and grubbing job on what is known as the Sanitorium road for a distance of three miles has also been adver- tised. Taylor township is” making plans for a “good roads” season and the indications are that about $19,000 will be spent on the roads in that township this year. The township disposed of $16,000 worth of bonds to the state and, with the $3,000 which the township receives from the county as its portion, the campaign will be carried out with good results. The Bemidji Auto Livery has mov- ed its office from the Kemp build- ing on Beltrami avenue to the new office in the Dalton block, just north of the former office. This office has just been completed and an en- trance has been cut through from the avenue, giving this livery company a very desirable office. One Touch of Nature GEE, | WISHT 1 HAD WINGS o g A by & - |his conviction that no child except the Tncluded in [* SCHOOL AGE OF CHILD CAUSE OF DISCUSSION Washington Educators Do Not Agree With Declaration of Luther Burbank Washington, April 7 (Capital News Service) —Educators of the Capital City are not at all in sympathy with the recent declaration of Luther Bur- bank, the plant wizard, who declared city child should be permitted inside the school rooms until ten years df age. They point out that plants and animals, the former group of living things, those with which Mr. Bup- bank has had the greatest experience, have only one age, which is that of their physical substance, whereas children are so many years old in body, but have minds which vary largely in “mental age” from that of the body. Dr. Agnes L. Rogers, of Goucher College, (Baltimore), has recently drawn attention of Capital school au- thorities to the need of mental rather than physical grading of children. In so doing she related the results of mental tests which revealed that in al group of first grade children their mentality ranged from that of four to nine years of age. “Children can acquire best the things proper to their learning point at a particular age,” Dr. Rogers said. She explained the division by the tests of children into three groups; un- usually bright children, the lar - erage group, comprising 60 per cent, and the under average children who are slow to learn. The first and third groups include 20 per cent each of children tested. The new cla fication prevents retardation, while arbitrarily holding children of phy- sical age of ten years from school in- creases it. NEW YORK STOCK MARKET AGAIN INTERESTS PUBLIC New York, April 7—(By R. L. Barnum) ‘Fdr the first time for more an two years the big outside public peculating on the New York stock | market on the long side, That is the | meaning of the million duties now be- ing witnessed, with prices daily mak- ing new high records for the year. . 'rom November 1919 until June the price trend of the market was downward, discounting wid read trade reaction. Since last August the price trend has been upward, dis- counting a revivial in business. 1t was only recently, however, that the public has regained enough con- fidence in the business outlook again to take the long side of the market. A. W. Aamodt, formerly county agent at Bemidji and for some time secretary of the Minnesota Potato Producers association, with headquar- ters in Minneapolis, has resigned. His official connection with the Potato association ended on April 1. He is at present in Chicago and has made nd announcement concerning his future plans. LENINE MAY ATTEND CONFERENCE AT GENOA His Appearance at Meeting to Be Held Monday Would Not Be a Big Surprise London, April 7.—(By Ed. L. Keen)—A dramatic appearance at Genon of Premicer Lenine of Russia would not be an entirely unexpeeted development of the Economic con- ference, which opens next Monday. The Russian dictator, it was sug- gested, may be traveling to Ttaly to witness the enemies who seck his life and to startle the world by appearing to cross swords with Lloyd George in the struggle over the recognition of Russia. Even without the presence of the| Bolshevik premier, the Genoa party will see a clash of interest between | Russian delegates and allied states- men. The former, heralded as giants in the new diplomacy, but untried outside their own country, have ar- rived at Genoa. The question of re- lations with Russia is paramount at the Genoa conference for the follow- ing reasons: | Rehabilitation of Russia with near-| ly every country in debt depends more on the obtaining of raw ma- terials and eredits than upon limita- tion of exchanges and balancing of budgets. With America out of the confer- ence and England feeling the pinch and calling in her loans, the field for credit is virtually exhausted. Eu-| rope must obtain raw material. | The doctors of war-sick Europe| therefore turned to Russia offering| to exchange recognition for raw ma- terial. Britain’s program for recog- nition of Russia, which will be pre- sented to the Soviet emissaries at Genoa, involves reduction of the| Russian armies, guarantees that Ru - sia will not attack her neighbor payment of old Russion debts and a measure of free trade with freedom| for foreign eitizens to be guarantced, within the Russian border. ELECTROCUTED INATTEMPTT0 (UT LIVE WIRE to Cut Electric Light Wire With Pocket Knife WAS ATTENDING FIRE IN NORTH END OF CITY No Marks or Burns Shown on Body; Wire Believed to Have Carried Low Voltage Joseph A. DeLeuil, proprietor of the Northwestern Motors, met death by eclectrocution Thursday night while attending a fire which destroy- ed the barn ‘on the Fred Hansen property at Twenty-fourth street and Dalton avenue. In what was ap- parently an attempt to save other persons from being injured by a live electric light wire which had fallen to the ground when the barn col- lapsed, Mr. DeLeuil endeavored to cut the wire, the live end of which was hanging from a short pole about half-way between the Hansen housc and barn. Using his pocket knife for this purpose and reaching up as high as he could, he met instant death as soon as the blade of the knife penetrated through the insula- tion on the wire, 1t is reported that no one was near him at the time, although George Kusba, a fireman, saw from a distance what Mr. DeLeuil was do- ing. He was the first to reach the dead man’s side, but life had depart- ed instantly, without a word being said by Mr. DeLeuil, as far as is known. Prioy to the attempt to cut the wire, Mr. DeLeuil had asked for a pair of pliers, but none being had, he went over to the loose wire and’ uged his knife. The wirc was an extension line from the Hansen house, occupied by the P. Shindler family, to the barn, and was supported above half-way between the buildings by a short pole. Climbing on top of the root cellar, near the pole, Mr. DeLeuil attempted to cut the wire off as high in the air as possible. When the barn collapsed the wire dropped to the ground and apparently Mr. De- Leuil thought that it should be cut off to avoid danger to those attend- ing the fire. No marks or burns are visible on his body. Consequently, it is doubt- ful just what amount of voltage pass- ed through Mr. DeLeuil’s body, al- though the wire was supposed to be carrying 110 volts. However, Elmer E. Swanson, manager of the Minne- sota Electric Light & Power Co., states that there may have been a short circuit in the system, which added considerable more voltage to this line. Such a short circuit could have been caused somewhere in the lighting system on account of the storm, although no indication has yet been found which might bear out this possibility. Crossing of two or more wires carrying the same load would have had no effect on the volt- age of the wire which caused Mr. De- Leuil's death. There is a possibility that weak heart action, coupled with the shock, could have cansed the death, since it is believed that the charge was not very heavy becausc no burns were left on the body. Had the wire been short circuited with the high tension line, Mr, DeLeuil would have taken into his body a 2,300 voltage, which in most cases leaves its marks on the victim, The blade of the knife which Mr. De- Leuil used shows only a small nick. This tends to bear out the opinion that the voltage was not very heavy. No doubt duc to the fact that Mr. DeLeuil's feet were wet and the (Continued on Page Three) GALLI CURCI LEADING HUNT FOR STOLEN GEMS (By United Press) Los Angeles, Calif., Aprl i7.— Madame Amelita Galli Curci, cele- brated prima donna of the Metro- politan Grand Opera company today led the hunt for the girl bumlit who stole her jewels, valued at $45,000, taken from her room in a road house at San Juan Capistrano, Police throughout southern California were participating in the girl hunt. The girls were described as young and pretty, one a pronounced blonde with bobbed hair. They were fash- jonably attired. Galli Curci, with her husband, Homer Samuels of Min- neapols was motoring from San Francisco to San Diego and stopped at San Juan Capistrano—the half- way mark—for lunch. The town is is 1 and consists of a few small buildings. Galli Curci was in the wash room and one of the girls was talking to her, when the other snatch- ed the jewe! box from the table. Both girls van out, jumped into an auto- mobile and sped away. J. A. DeLeuil Killed in Attempt -